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PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS 



TREATMENT OF ACUTE DISEASES ; 



PARTICULARLY THOSE OF THE WEST INDIES. 



[[Communicated by Dr Wright, in a Letter to Maxwell Garth- 

 shore, M. D. F. R. S. Physician in London ; and by him to Dr 

 Simmons. From Medical Facts and Obs. vol. vii.] 



Dear Sir, 



In compliance with your request, I now com- 

 municate to you some observations on the treatment of acute 

 diseases, particularly those of the West Indies. 



I shall begin with the Typhus, Nervous, Ship, or Jail, 

 Fever, as it is differently styled by different writers. 



In a former letter I remarked to you, that the application 

 of cold water externally had been, for some time, practised 

 by Dr Gregory, Professor of Physic in this University, in 

 cases of typhus, with remarkably good effect; but he has 

 never carried it to the extent I did in my own case, and in 

 that of others, several years ago *. Instead of dashing cold 

 water on the naked body, as I did, Dr Gregory orders the 

 bodies of his patients to be washed with a sponge, dipped in 

 cold water and vinegar, at least twice a-day. This operation 



• Sec London Medical Journal, vol. vii. p. lO r J. 



